From reimbursement landscape challenges to dwindling patient volumes, many factors lead hospitals to close.
Here are 15 hospitals that have closed in the past six months, beginning with the most recent:
1. Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia closed in early September. Hahnemann announced in June that it would close Sept. 6. The hospital pushed back the closure date after a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of its residency programs on Sept. 5.
2. North Metro Medical Center in Jacksonville, Ark., closed Aug. 20, leaving local residents without an emergency room. No notice was given before the hospital shut down.
3. Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., closed in August, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health revealed plans to close Westlake Hospital in February, a few weeks after acquiring the 230-bed hospital from Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.
4. Financial challenges forced Hamlin (Texas) Memorial Hospital to close July 31. Declining patient volume and dwindling reimbursement rates were among the factors that led to the hospital's closure, according to a July 2 announcement from the hospital's board of directors.
5. Sitka (Alaska) Community Hospital closed July 29. After the hospital closed, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium took over the facility and began offering a variety of services, including a family clinic and long-term care. The former Sitka Community Hospital, which reportedly faced financial challenges, was integrated into Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital.
6. Chillicothe (Texas) Hospital closed July 22. The critical access hospital shut down after a decline in patient volume due to patients traveling to other hospitals for care. The hospital also experienced decreasing reimbursements.
7. Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center closed on June 13. The 85-bed hospital abruptly shut down just one day after its Medicare and Medicaid funding was cut off. In a June 7 statement to the Independent Herald, West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health, which owns Jamestown Regional, said mistakes made during the transition to a new billing company in December 2018 led to financial challenges at the hospital.
8. De Queen (Ark.) Medical Center filed for bankruptcy in April and closed May 7. The 22-bed hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, faced financial troubles for months before it shut down. Sevier County (Ark.) leaders originally planned to take over the troubled hospital, but they ultimately decided it was facing too many court judgments and liens to save.
9. Mercy Hospital El Reno (Okla. ) closed April 30. St. Louis-based Mercy said it ended its lease of the hospital due to declining inpatient volumes, which caused financial losses. Before the hospital closed, the City of El Reno had already secured a new agreement to ensure local residents would continue to have access to emergency care. Under a lease agreement that took effect May 1, Oklahoma City-based SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital began operating the emergency department of the hospital in El Reno.
10. Washington, D.C.-based Providence Hospital closed April 30 after 158 years of service. In July 2018, St. Louis-based Ascension, which owns Providence, said it was shutting down the hospital and making investments in other types of services, including telehealth, care coordination, home care and community-based behavioral healthcare.
11. Belmont Community Hospital, a 99-bed hospital in Bellaire, Ohio, closed April 5. Hospital officials cited a decline in patient volume as the reason for the closure. "Utilization of BCH has continued to decline despite efforts to offer varying services at the facility," the hospital said in a press release. "The decline has place[d] a financial strain on the BCH that cannot be sustained in the long term."
12. Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville, Ind., closed April 5. The hospital, which opened in 2009, faced financial losses for years and previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
13. Horton (Kan.) Community Hospital closed March 12. The 25-bed critical access hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, shut down after struggling to pay utilities and missing payroll for several weeks. The hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14.
14. Georgiana (Ala.) Medical Center closed March 8. Ivy Creek Healthcare in Georgiana, which owns the hospital, cited growing costs and cuts to reimbursement as the reasons for the closure.
15. Cumberland River Hospital in Celina, Tenn., closed March 1. In January, officials announced that the hospital was shutting down due to financial challenges. They said Cumberland River Hospital had experienced significant losses in recent years due to declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes.
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